Fugue – a poem by Beth Houston

Fugue

Notes’ linear arrangement first makes sense
When comprehended fully as one work: 
	Completed composition. In what tense
	Is fugue a fugue? Consider scale. Rework
Each subject’s episodes and counterpoint
In four dimensions: open, middle, end,
	The whole experienced. Each note a point
	That tunes the score, the re-composing blend
Of tones fulfills your mind. Is just-performed
Less real than still-in-progress? In the end,
	We hear the fugue entire as being formed
	Re-membered. Art, like space-time’s curve, must bend
Back to its origin to be, first cause
Accomplished per appreciative applause.

Beth Houston has taught writing at ten universities and colleges in California and Florida. She has published a couple hundred poems in dozens of literary journals. She edits the Extreme formal poetry anthologies (Rhizome Press). www.bethhouston.com